Five Stages
by guardyanangel
Summary: Five of them left the Tower that night. Only four of them came home. Titans East grieves.
1. Stage One: Denial

**Summary: **Five of them left the Tower that night. Only four of them came home. Titans East grieves.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the Teen Titans, and I don't think fans would want me to considering the horrible things I've done/will do to the poor Titans.

**A/N: **The lines "Five of them left the Tower that night. Only four of them came home." randomly popped up in my mind while I was looking at fics with focus on Titans East members. Then I thought about the five stages of grief/five members on a Titans team and viola… drabble collection. :P

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**Five Stages**

**By guardyanangel**

**_Stage One: Denial_**

When he first sees his teammate gunned down he refuses to accept it and continues fighting. It doesn't matter that he saw the grin on the face of the villain that killed his friend. It doesn't matter when he hears the anguished cry of another teammate confirming that the other one is dead. The truth doesn't sink in until he sees the body being covered with a sheet, bloodstained and smaller in death than in life.

When he sees _that,_ Aqualad punches a hole in the nearest wall and sinks to his knees with a scream of grief and pain.

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**A/N: **Review please. If you want you can try to guess who's died as I post each update.

Thanks for reading. Next drabble up tomorrow!

~Guardy


	2. Stage Two: Anger

**_Stage Two: Anger_**

He recognizes death, and when his teammate falls he _knows_, and his veins alight with fiery rage. Suddenly, he no longer cares who or what he hits as long as he's hitting _something_. When he gets his hands on the killer, he punches and punches until the man's blood is everywhere and there are voices that are begging him to stop, or he'll kill him. He ignores the people's pleas, and continues throwing punches until he's finally pulled away by the police.

Speedy struggles against their hold, spitting curses at the killer as he sobs like his heart is breaking.

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**A/N: **Two down and three to go.

Thanks for reading. :)

~Guardy


	3. Stage Three: Bargaining

**_Stage Three: Bargaining_**

In the dream he has every night after his teammate dies, they're always falling, helpless. Every time they're about to hit the ground, a bird comes sweeping in and catches him, leaving his teammate to their doom. Every time, he begs the bird to take his teammate instead. Sometimes the bird doesn't listen and catches him anyways. Sometimes the bird does listen but they're too late to save his friend. Either way, he always sees the pleading eyes of his friend as they crash into the ground.

It's then that Menos wakes up screaming, tears streaming freely down his face.

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**A/N: **Two Titans left! It may be obvious now who it is, and it definitely will be by next drabble, but I still like to see what y'all think it is now. :)

Thanks for reading!

~Guardy


	4. Stage Four: Depression

**A/N:** And now the big reveal (sort of.) By the first line of this you should know who's dead, although I won't say it explicitly until the next chap.

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**_Stage Four: Depression_**

After the death of her teammate, she goes through her days in a haze of sorrow and self-blame. Meals are forgotten while she is in the throes of another bout of guilt-tripping herself over her teammate's death. Sleep is a distant memory while she is struggling with the could-have-should-have-would-have-beens. However, in spite of her lost weight and sleep, during the day she still gets by and directs the remnants of her team the best she can.

At night, though, Bumblebee locks herself in the training room and as she trains she alternates between screaming with self-hatred and crying with grief.

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**A/N: **I have but one thing to say to you all who may be coming at me with pitchforks… I'm sorry. (Especially to you, RFE! You suspected all along, didn't you?)

Thanks for reading. Final stage up tomorrow!

~Guardy


	5. Stage Five: Acceptance

**A/N: **This bit has 400 words, so technically one drabble four each of the surviving members of TE. Hope you enjoy!

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**_Stage Five: Acceptance_**

Life goes on, and, while time doesn't always heal, it does draw a veil over the pain, soothing the newly wounded heart into one scarred but still relatively whole.

It took some time, but eventually the members of Titans East got over the loss of Más, and they soon found themselves able to return to a semblance of what they had been before, albeit with some heartrending changes.

Aqualad was solemner, quieter, and more ready to lay down his life for his teammates, still haunted by the death of the youngest of his team. For a time he had returned to Atlantis, but he went back soon to Steel City, unable to be parted from the few left in his team. He had not left them again, and did not intend to while he was still breathing.

Speedy, too, was haunted, although more by the consequences of his rage at his friend's murderer than by the loss of his friend- for the killer of Más had in turn almost been killed by the wrath of the archer, and Speedy could never forget the fact that blood had nearly been on his hands. For quite some time after That Day, Speedy would find himself looking in the mirror, filled with guilt and rage over what he had done- and what he had failed to do.

Menos was never the same after the death of his twin, and not long after his brother's funeral he returned home to Guatemala to the care of his aunt, never to set foot in Steel City again. It would be some time before Menos would be able to speak of his time as a hero without pain.

Bumblebee strove on, nearly driving herself into the ground for months after the young speedster's death. It was only through Cyborg's intervention that the girl began to reclaim herself. Eventually, she managed to pull both herself and the remnants of her team together, growing stronger for their loss.

It took some time, but eventually Aqualad was able to laugh again, Speedy able to look in the mirror without guilt, Menos able to contact his former teammates without hesitation, and Bumblebee able to sleep again at night. It took some time, but eventually the Loss of Más went from an open wound to a gently bandaged one, and the lives of the remaining members of Titans East went slowly on.

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**A/N: **Thanks to all of you for reading and for your reviews! Shout out to my anonymous reviewer, _rloe models, _who took the time to drop a quick line even though they don't have a FF account. :) Thanks so much to all of you!

~Guardy


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